Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agro-industrial groups, earned $161.59m in net profit in Q1 FY2023 (FY, July-September 2022), down 23.4% from the same period of the previous FY.
According to a financial report on the company’s Web site Saturday night, the agriholding’s revenue for the period fell 51.1 percent to $654.56 million.
Gross profit fell 47.6% to $173.34 million, operating income fell 42.5% to $142.47 million and EBITDA fell 40.1% to $168.38 million.
“Kernel attributed the decline in revenues to the low volume of grain exports, as well as the negative impact of lower sales of sunflower meal and oil.
In addition, the net loss from changes in fair value of biological assets was $2 million compared to a profit of $85 million in the first quarter of FY 2022.
“Shipping and handling costs accounted for 28% of cost of sales in July-September 2022, up 47% year-over-year and three times the previous quarter, reflecting sharply higher logistics costs in exporting goods from Ukraine,” the report states.
“Kernel clarified that the Oilseeds Processing segment’s contribution to EBITDA was $45 million, reflecting strong processing margins, while the Infrastructure & Trade segment’s EBITDA declined 35% year-over-year to $60 million. Agriculture EBITDA in Q1 2023FY was $82 million, down 61% from a year ago.
Net finance costs in the first quarter of 2023FY increased 31% YoY to $35 million, driven by higher debt on the group’s balance sheet: “Kernel has postponed repayment of principal due to the difficult liquidity situation caused by the war in Ukraine, the report says.
According to it, the net foreign exchange gain in the reporting period amounted to $58 million due to the depreciation of the hryvnia and the revaluation of intragroup balances.
Kernel net debt, according to the report, grew during the year by 48% – to $1.496 billion, while the ratio of net debt to EBITDA increased 12.7 times – to 13.9.
As reported, Kernel ended FY2022 with a net loss of $41 million compared to $506 million net profit in the previous fiscal year, while revenues decreased by 5% to $5.332 billion.
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